Historically, telecommunications have involved the transmission of voice and fax signals over a network dedicated to telecommunications, such as the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN). Similarly, data communications between computers have been historically transmitted on a dedicated data network, such a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN). Currently telecommunications and data transmissions are being merged into a integrated communication network using technology such as Voiceover Internet Protocol (VoIP). Since many LANs and WANs transmit computer data using Intranet Protocol (IP), VoIP uses this existing technology to transmit voice and fax signals by converting these signals into digital data and encapsulating the data for transmission over an IP network.
Traditional communication networks often support multipoint conferences between a number of participants using different communication devices. A multipoint conference unit (MCU) is used to couple these devices, which allows users from distributed geographic locations to participate in the conference. The conference may be audio only (e.g. teleconference) or may include video conferencing/broadcasting. In typical multipoint conference systems, communications from the participants are transmitted to each of the other participants in the conference.
One example application of a multipoint conference system involves the use of an interactive voice response (IVR) system at a call center and a live agent participating on a conference with a caller. IVR systems are programmed to allow direct interaction between callers and the IVR system, thus reducing the need for assigning a separate agent to handle an incoming call. The communication from the caller to the IVR system may be through dual tone multiple frequency (DTMF) signals or through speech. For example, the IVR system may include automatic speech recognition (ASR) capability to automatically recognize spoken words of the caller. Many IVR system scripts provide an option to transfer to a live agent for callers who cannot successfully navigate through the script. In some scenarios, the agent handles the incoming call by interacting directly with the caller. In other scenarios, the agent conferences in the caller and the IVR system via a three-way conference (e.g., a conference bridge) and guides the caller through the IVR options. This provides an opportunity to teach the caller about the use of the IVR system and thus reduces the need for future agent interaction.
In some call centers, a supervisor may be able to establish a “whisper” session with a live agent who is on a call with a caller. In this case, the supervisor may monitor the audio stream between the caller and the agent and may create an audio session with the agent to give the agent feedback and/or directions.